African tribes often adopt unique customs. This is helpful in identifying the members of their own tribes, as well as potential enemies. The Surma live in the in the mountains of South West Ethiopia, the women of the tribe have a custom of wearing lip plates in the lower lip. This practice is by no means unique to the Surma; the Mursi tribe also wears lip plates while in the Suya tribe of Brazil the practice is common to both men and women.

The Surma are set apart by the sheer size of the plates used. The process starts when a girl is from 15 to 20 years old. The lower lip is slightly perforated and a small plate is inserted. The plates were traditionally wooden but have now been replaced by clay ones. Over the course of a year the size of the plates is increased. The process is very painful and infection is common. The size of the plate dictates how much a potential husband will have to pay for the bride. A 5 inch plate may fetch as many as 50 head of cattle. Women normally wear the plates at all times but may remove them if no men are present. The plates permanently stretch the lip and increase its circumference.

The wayward girl is punished by having her lip plate removed. Thus she is a social outcast in her own tribe.